The Captain's Golden Touch

It was with a little trepidation that Jens started the repair on the GenSet.  It has been a long road of trying out things and talking to people about what the problem could be.  The generator was running fine but it just wasn't creating any charge to replenish our batteries.  We went down the expensive road of trial and error, replacing parts until we found the problem.  We know for sure it is not the voltage regulator, but I guess the good news is that we now have a spare one.  After talking to a few more people and some local experts, Jens decided it could be the carbon brushes.  So we ordered a couple of new sets since they are not an expensive part themselves, but the cost of shipping is often quite high.

We got back to the boat Friday around noon after our trip to Panama City to pick up the parts but thinking it would be a long and tedious job and afraid to be disappointed one more time, Jens delayed the repair until Saturday.   As it turned out it only took him about 15 minutes to install the new brushes. We started up the GenSet and waited to see if the green light indicating it was generating electricity would go on.  We didn't have to wait long.  That lovely green light went on!  Jens was so excited you'd have thought it was Christmas.  Hurrah!!  Finally, we have all things operational aboard SY SEGWUN.  What a lovely feeling.

Then we had even more good news.  The adjustment that Jens made to the propellor has resulted in a nice improvement to our fuel economy.  We figured it turns out to be about a 20% improvement.  Not too bad!!!  That kind of adjustment is easy to get used to.

I had some time over the last few days to go through my photos from San Blas and thought to share a few of the nicer ones with you.  Hope you like them.

A Kuna Hotel on one of the islands in San Blas.  Very rustic and peaceful.

The mountains along the coast.  Usually the clouds come rolling over the mountains just before a rain storm.

Is the Repair to the GenSet Within Sight???

October 4, 2012
We arrived back to Shelter Bay on Tuesday after having spent 18 days in the San Blas Islands.  Our pantry was looking a little bare and I think we were all starting to grow fins and gills from spending so much time snorkelling and swimming.  It was also time to do some serious laundry.  And, the best news - we heard from Fredrik who had just returned from a couple of weeks traveling and ... he had the spare parts for the generator (or GenSet as it is referred to).

Why do we need a generator on board?  And how have we managed for so many months without one?  Good questions!  We use the generator to charge our batteries which powers our fridge and freezer, lights, and our navigation equipment as well as our autopilot.  Options to a generator would be wind and/or solar power, which we don't have.  Another option of course is to run the engine which also charges the batteries.  So, why don't we just run the engine?  Well, it's quite noisy and also consumes almost twice as much fuel as the generator would.

We have been using the ship's main engine to charge our batteries whenever we are not connect to shore power ever since the GenSet went on the blink way back when we were in St. Martin.  It takes about two hours a day of charging to provide us with the energy we need.  As you all know,  I have had to forgo the use of my hair dryer while at sea and we also don't use the microwave or the air conditioners (which is really sad cause sometimes the nights are really hot and sticky; but somehow, we have survived) otherwise it would probably be more like 4 hours of charging.   We have toyed with the idea of investing in solar and/or wind power but are reluctant as it seems like bit of overkill if we have an operating generator.  So, this is our last kick at the can - if the parts we ordered don't fix the generator, then we'll review our options again.

We took the bus to Panama City today to meet up with Fredrik and pick up the parts.  Tomorrow we travel back to Colon and ... keep your fingers crossed ... Jens will fiddle with the generator one more time and with any luck, we'll have a fully operational GenSet once again.  You see how exciting life on a sail boat can be?

Playing in the San Blas

Thursday, September 27, 2012

The San Blas are an archipelago of more than 300 islands. There are an abundance of reefs providing some of the best snorkeling you can imagine. The sea is full of fish; tiny pin sized fish that are surely hatchlings, schools of small fish, and schools of medium sized fish. Then you have a few larger fish coming by now and then, but I think most of the bigger fish stay in the deeper water. The reefs are alive with your typical reef fish and all kinds of coral.

As you approach the sandy beaches of an island the bottom is littered with star fish. Too bad they're not edible because they certainly are plentiful. And they would be so easy to catch. I wonder how far they actually move in a day because they don't seem to move at all. But then, if they were edible, I'm sure there wouldn't be so many of them around.


The Kunas are superb skin divers and often bring their catch by our boat. We were snorkeling the other day and had the opportunity to watch a Kuna man and his son spear fishing. He was using a Hawaiian sling to catch fish and he was also hunting langoustines. These are essentially lobsters without the front claws. The tail makes for excellent eating and we've have had a couple of nice meals of these.

We see lots of spotted eagle rays and sting rays, plenty of conch and sand dollars (my collection of sand dollars is growing daily!) and in the empty conch shells, we find the new tenants - hermit crabs. There is evidence of crabs on every beach - you can tell by the numerous holes in the sand but by the time we get close they have all scurried back to their homes.

Oh, and did I mention the jelly fish? There are a lot of them this time around. We didn't see any when we were here in May. There are hundreds of small walnut sized jelly fish. Yes, they sting. It feels like a small ting and most of the time it is hardly bothersome. Jens seems to have a delayed reaction to their stings. He had several on both arms that swelled up and got a bit white and hard for a day or two. He now goes snorkeling with a long sleeved t-shirt. They don't seem to affect the rest of us. I try and avoid them anyway, especially the larger ones.

What shall we do today? Let's go snorkeling. What? Again? We did that yesterday and the day before that. Actually we've gone snorkeling at least twice each day for the past 14 days. Yup, I'm getting my fill of snorkelling. Time to move on I think.

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The Daily Routine

September 26, 2012

Well, what to say that I haven't already said! Life rolls by slowly with long lazy days of snorkeling and exploring the islands. The weather here is less rainy and a bit less hot than it had been in Colon with morning temperatures at about 25 c. Mind you, by mid-afternoon it is well above 30 c and if our barometer on the boat is right the humidity levels never go below 70%. It's always nice to jump in the water which is lovely and warm ranging between 30 and 31 c.

Chores: There are the daily chores of sweeping and vacuuming the cabin, cooking meals and charging batteries to keep us busy. And we need to do laundry now and then so it's the old fashioned process of hand washing and hanging out to dry. In this climate very little clothes are needed and we spend a great deal of our time in our swimsuits. We are all nice and toasty brown!

Cooking: I have been trying out the beer bread recipe which is fast and easy to make. Only the Captain complains because I need one can of beer for each loaf of bread. But he doesn't complain too much when he is eating the results. The other day I added cheese and chili peppers to one loaf and cinnamon and raisins to the other loaf which made it fine for dessert or toasted for breakfast. Both turned out really well. It is a bit of a heavy bread and fills us up. But we have learned that it is best eaten the same day or soon after as it doesn't keep well.

We had received some coconuts from a Kuna on the island next to our anchorage in return for filling his water jug. With a few extra coconuts I thought to make a coconut cake, but without a recipe and few ingredients I had to improvise a little. I added grated coconut to the batter and used coconut milk instead of cow's milk. I had a package of vanilla flan that I used for a topping and decorated it with some maraschino cherries. It looked pretty and tasted yummy. The crew on Segwun really do enjoy their desserts.

I've tried my hand at the 'No Knead' bread and changed a couple of things. Much better this time, but not yet perfect. I think the high humidity might have something to do with it so next time, I'll use lest water. Stay posted. When it comes out as it should, I'll post a photo and the recipe. :-).

Now that we have restored faith in the freezer, next time we provision, we'll be sure to stock up on chicken and beef. We were a little uncertain this time around so we were cautious with how much meat we bought and although we can buy some groceries in the San Blas I am a bit reluctant to buy meat. We've been eating a lot of pasta as a result. Nothing like good old spaghetti and macaroni, right?

The Spider: we have a stowaway aboard Segwun. It is a spider that is living at the stern of the boat. He/she must take refuge in the Bimini during bad weather. He's been with us since we left Shelter Bay and every evening, just around the time we are having our sundowners, out he comes and builds a new web up at the back of the Bimini stretching out to the davits for the dinghy. I guess even spiders make good sailors (I wonder if they get seasick??)

Entertainment: we finished watching Season 1 of Game of Thrones and are now halfway through Season 1 of Boardwalk Empire. We have also kept ourselves busy with a backgammon tournament which I didn't make past the first round. Poo! But I guess someone has to lose and Christian is just so darn lucky!!! He makes up for beating everyone at backgammon with a little soothing guitar music.

 

 

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Linton to San Blas : September 15, 2012

 

Although we thought our anchorage at Isla Linton would be quiet, it turned out to be a bit rocky with large swells coming in from the sea all night long. We rose early and made a stop on the island which is said to be uninhibited except for Howler monkeys who have taken over residence in the only house on the island. It seems to have been an old research center but by the looks of it it has been many years since there was any real work being done there. We explored the vicinity and Anna spotted a couple of sloths in the tree at the edge of the forest. No sign of the Howlers.

 

We set off planning to reach the Lemmon Cays in San Blas well before dark. It was a windless day, hot and humid. Which meant that as soon as we were anchored we jumped in to cool down and did a little snorkeling. And here we are, back in paradise!

 

Captain's log: left anchor at Isla Linton at 08:48 am and arrived to Lemmon Cays at 16:13. Motored for 8 hours as winds were at 0-5 knots. Total distance travelled: 47.4 nautical miles.

 

 

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The first sail of the season

September 13, 2012  Finally, yesterday SY Segwun left the shackles of the port and slipped off into the Caribbean Sea for her first sail of the season. What a great feeling. Everything went smoothly, the lines were taken from the dock without effort, the bow thruster helped turn us in the right direction, the engine roared to life on the first try. The crew brought in the fenders and tidied up the ropes. Every Captain's dream.

The only improvement could have been the sun. She was well hidden behind the clouds and it rained all morning. The rain and wind washed out what was the beginning of a bird nest buried in the end of the boom so every now and then we would get a sprinkling of twigs and debris into the cockpit together with the overflow rain from the Bimini.

We had planned to stop overnight in Portobello to visit the ruins of the old fort on our way to San Blas. We arrived just after lunch, the rain had subsided and the wind seemed to be from the right direction for an a overnight anchorage in the harbor. But as we got closer in to the bay, we could see several boats anchored and the swells were causing them to rock ... A lot. We would have had a very bouncy night. We've been there, done that! It makes for a very unpleasant stay as Eric And Liz can attest to after our night at Warderick Wells in Bahamas.

We continued to Isla Linton which is where Jens and I overnighted on our way to Colon in May and we will take Portobello on our return trip. We anchored safely and were getting ready to go to shore for a refreshing drink at the local watering hole. And then the problems began.

Jens started by taking the dinghy motor off it's mount on the rail ....hmmm. Well it seems the screws were seized or rusted or both and no amount of WD40 would loosen it. Out comes the saw and pliers and Jens freed the motor and mounted it on the dinghy. A few clever repairs and the dinghy mount is back in order. In the meantime, our hand pump toilet wouldn't flush. Jens knew what it was as we had this problem once before, but it meant taking the outtake valve off and I won't go into all the details, but it smells very bad. Trust me. Very bad. He flushed water down into the bilge along with a couple of packets of deodorizer and we were ready to go for our now well-deserved drink. But, the dinghy motor wouldn't start. Oy! What next. Again Captain Jens managed to get her going and we were off.

After a couple of nice cold Balboas (the local brew) we returned to the boat for some dinner. Well, our problems were not over yet. It seems the vapors from the deodorizer filled the cabin and it was burning our eyes and throat. We opened all the hatches and windows thankful that the rain had stopped and a breeze was blowing. But then Jens realized the bilge pump wasn't pumping the water out. So, here we go again. Tools out and Jens with his head down the bilge one more time. It was a small problem. The bilge pump filter was blocked so after clearing that out everything was back in good order and the cabin was clear.

Anna and Christian made a nice dinner starting with a freshly made guacamole dip with salsa and nachos and then some chili with rice for the main course. Oh yes, and Jens fried up the small Mackerel we caught on the way so Anna and Christian had a taste of some freshly caught fish.

That was our first day. Thank goodness Jens knows how to fix so many different things.

Captains's Log: We sailed 22.21 nautical miles today leaving at 09:15 and anchoring at 15:25. Winds were from the Southwest 8-10 knots speed, heavy rain when we left and clearing up by mid day. Sails up most of the way while at sea.

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Lightning Capital of the World?

We are in the middle of the rainy season in Panama.  That means it rains EVERY day!  The rainy season is a long one - May to November and Panama gets about 1900 mm of rain per year.  This compares to 773 mm in Toronto.  

The humidity is quite high and the amount of lightning is spectacular.  I have never seen so much lightning in my life.  After being here a few weeks and seeing lightning storms once, sometimes two times per day, I was sure this was the lightning capital of the world.  A little google searching and I saw a lot of claims that Florida was the lightning capital of the world.  But digging a little deeper I came across a great site by NASA.  And although Florida has the most lightning strikes in the USA, it is actually a small town in the Congo that hold the number one spot.  Below picture is courtesy of NASA - the redder the zones, the more lightning per square kilometre per year.  The amount and type of data that NASA collects is quite interesting.  They have a great website, but it is not so user friendly and they use a lot of very technical terms.  Anyhow - this is a good picture and gives you an idea of where the lightning hot spots are.